Some Douchecan* performed a hit-and-run on my car and destroyed my drivers’ side mirror. So I decided to replace the mirror myself, rather than spending an absurd amount at the body shop. Of course I have a $500 deductible, so I couldn’t even make an insurance claim.
* = Douchecan might as well be trademarked by Tracey.
The first step was ordering the replacement part. Because the mirror was smashed and the joint was broken, it made sense just to get a full replacement assembly. This was 150 dollars, including tax and shipping, at Bernardi Honda. You can get cheaper parts, but this was made by Honda and is color matched.
The second step is to remove the door panel. This is pretty easy. You have to take the cover off the inside of the mirror assembly. This is held in with 2 clips, so it just pops out. Next you have to remove two screws, one on the inside of the door latch and one on the inside of the door handle. The door panel should be loose at this point.
The hardest part was figuring out how to unhook the door latch from the door. It is surprisingly easy once you figure it out. You can use a screwdriver to “pop” up the metal latch, and that releases the door panel. The door panel is held in place with a bunch of clips all the way around, and these just pop free with a little bit of pressure.
Once the door panel is off, there are three bolts holding the entire mirror assembly to the door. Remove the nuts and replace the assembly. Don’t forget to hook up the wiring, otherwise you’ll be taking the panel off again. The panel goes back on pretty easily, and you can whack it pretty hard to set all the clips.
I love my Honda – it is so easy to work on. I can’t ever imagine buying anything else. It was pretty funny because my neighbor was also working on his ’89 Jeep today. He’s getting ready to sell it. That car is easy to work on in a different, much more minimalist, way.
Sean Michael Kerner writes that Ubuntu is not cash flow positive, despite its massive user base.
“We can’t make money selling the desktop that’s why we focused on a zero licensing cost business model,” Shuttleworth said. “The only way to build a business on Linux is to focus on services.”
Canonical is not a highly-ranked provider of services to the enterprise or to consumers. Like Novell, they are working with partners to build a support ecosystem around their product. However, without major brand-name backing, it is unlikely that large enterprises will want to purchase support services from unknowns.
It would not surprise me to see Canonical announce a large Desktop services deal with a major brand name provider, possibly Sun. Canonical is already “tied up with Sun”:”:http://seekingalpha.com/article/71011-sun-microsystems-next-linux-move on the server side.
If you haven’t seen it already, you have to check out Milan Lucic’s hit on Mike Van Ryn. According to the announcer, it will make every highlight reel for the next 10 years.
He got a hat trick in the same game. This was the first game he played with contact lenses. I hope he keeps them in for the rest of the season.
I applied for a credit card the other day and was denied. The reason they gave me is that I do not have enough of a credit history to qualify for their card. Admittedly, I applied for the “highest end” card I could find, so it is probably my fault.
My credit history is spotless. I did another review of my credit history on all three agencies and found nothing wrong. I realize now that a person’s credit history has almost nothing to do with their ability to pay.
I could pay off in cash many times over the limit they would have given to me. If I was someone who was living paycheck to paycheck, but relied on credit extensively to survive, I probably could have gotten that card. So this seems to me to be a ridiculous finance situation.
I believe that the extensive reliance on credit histories and scores, and the disregarding of overall financial situation, is setting up the US for serious credit card problems. Rising unemployment will exacerbate the situation.
The credit-card industry’s default rates are “all but certain” to surpass post-recession peaks reached in 2003, Moody’s Investors Service said in an Oct. 16 report. Unemployment may rise until the fourth quarter of 2009, pushing the default rate to a peak of about 8.5 percent from 6.82 percent in August, Moody’s said. link
A credit card company, or bank, would outperform if they started looking at an overall financial situation before issuing credit. The process would be similar to the process for applying for a house. The issuing institution gains clients and reduces their risk. And consumers may benefit with lower rates and “safer” credit limits.
I’m sure there are arguments against this, but the current system is nonsensical and broken.
I’m glad that they took my advice and decided to reinforce bank balance sheets rather than trying to purchase bad securities. You can thank me for the 11% recovery today.
The bailout plan, which was passed by Congress, is unlikely to fix the banking system or the economy. The plan calls for the purchase of “bad” mortgage securities out of the market and from banks. The purchase is really meant to shore up bank balance sheets by exchanging cash for (worthless) mortgage-backed securities.
The problem is really that most MBSs and ABSs are not worthless. A portion of those securities continue to earn a return. What is really needed is the removal of bad securities, sort of like the removal of cancer cells through surgery, and the re-introduction of the remaining good mortgages. To put the problem in perspective, the residential mortgage market in 2006 was about 10 trillion dollars, of which about 1.5 trillion was in sub-prime.
Even if 700 billion dollars of mortgages was purchased off of the open market, the MBS market will freeze up again. What is needed is for the government to step in and act as a market maker in these securities. By providing necessary liquidity and providing assurance that there will be a buyer and seller of last resort, the government would allow the markets to work out the bad mortgages.
This course of action would give the banks a lot of time to find ways to strengthen their own balance sheets. It would allow for enterprising individuals/companies to buy mortgages and possibly separate the good stuff from the bad stuff with less risk. It would also unfreeze the credit markets. Most importantly, the startup capital would be a lot less than 700 Billion dollars.
